Method of shaping bilge bodies.



R. W. HARDIE. METHOD OF SHAPING BILGE BODIES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 24, 1908.

Patented Oct. 27

I J Mmm UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT W. HARDIE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

METHOD OF SHAPING BILGE BQDIES.

S ecification of Letters iatent.

"Patented Oct. '27, 1908.

Original application filed June 17, 1907, Serial. No. 879,527. Divided and this application filed January 94, 1908.

Serial no. 412,990.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT W. HARDIE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Method of ShapingBilge Bodies, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description. I

,This invention is a division of the subjectmatter shown and described in the application filed by me June 17 ,-1907, for Letters Patent No. 877,077, dated January 21, 1908, and relates to a method of shapin the bodies of bilge receptacles, such as barre s and similar objects.

Considerable difiiculty has heretofore been experienced in forming a body for bilge shaped receptacles because of the fact that a blank cannot be rolled from a flat sheet into the required shape. To meet such conditions bilge bodies have heretofore been formed from a tubular blank which is placed over a form or mandrel in a lathe, and rolled down in thickness by means of a roller or spinning tool, so as to decrease the thickness of the metal forming the tubular blank and give the desired shape to the body. These rollin and spinning opera- .tions are not only s ow and eirpensive, but they-harden the metaland require the blank to be repeatedly annealed, thereby adding to the cost of construction. Bilge bodies have also been formed from sheet blanks by first rolling the blank into true cylindrical shape, fastening heads to the ends of the body or shell, and then placing the shell within a form having an inner wall of the shape and curvature desired. Hydraulic pressure is then applied to the interior of the shell which stretches the shell in diameter into the desired shape. This stretching not only injures the fiber of the metal, but the shell when finished is thereby weakened at its middle portion, the part'which sustains the entire weight of the barrel when lying on the side. It is therefore necessary to use a blank much thicker than need otherwise be,

so that when its thickness is reduced by this stretching process it willbe of the desired thickness at the middle of the shell. The ends of the shell are consequently of greater thickness than is required, which not only adds to the original cost of the barrel-but makes the barrel heavier than is required,

and adds to theicost of its transportation. Again, efforts v have been made to make a bilge barrel from a sheet of metal by corrugating or fluting the sides of the blank which form the ends of-the shell, leaving the middlelongitudinal portion of the blank free from corrugations. The ends of the shell formed of such a blank are thereb fluted while the middle of the shell is le plain, the purpose of fluting the sides' of the blank and the end portions of the shell being to fold the metal into corrugations and reduce the diameter of the ends of the shell below the diameter of the middle of the shell, and thereby produce a bilge foundation. But it is impossible to properly attach the heads to the ends of a fluted shell and make a satisfactory joint between the shell and head. Eiforts have also been made to swage these fluted ends of the shell into a smooth surface, but such a method has not proven successful for the reason that this swaging operation necessarily causes the metal to buckle and produce folds and welts in the ends of the shell, thereby making said ends rough and uneven, and also preventing the heads from being tightly secured to the shell to make as tight a joint as is required when the barrels are to be used for' oils, chemicals or other similar liquids.

My invention has for its object, therefore, to provide a sim 1e and effective method of forming the shel or body of bilge shaped receptacles, such as barrels and similar objects. These objects I accomplish by first providing a sheet blank with corrugations, extending transversely of the middle longitudinal portion of the blank when the blank is approximately flat, then pressing out the corrugations to form a bilge shaped shell. These corrugations are deeper or wider, or

both deeper and wider at the middle than at of the corrugations,

Figure 1 is a plan of a sheet metal blank having transverse corrugations of varying depth; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the blank shown in Fig. 1, taken' on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the blank shown in Fig. 1 before the corrugations are formed; and Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the blank shown in Fig. 1 rolled into cylindrical form, and ghei corrugations removed to form a bilge The invention is employed in shaping the shell of the bilge body, as shown herein, by first providing the faces of a sheet blank, with corrugations 2 approximately parallel with each other. These corrugations extend transversely of the middle longitudinal portion of the sheet blank, when the blank is approximately flat, and are wider-or deeper at their middle than at their ends, and consequently-the surface area is greater at the middle than at the ends of the corru ations. These corru ations diminish in width or depth from t eir middle to their ends, thereby enabling the blank when the corrugations are pressed out, to form a bilge shape body havlng different diameters at diflerent parts. The extent of the fullness, of surface area of the corrugated portion varies in proportion to the dimensions which it is desired to ive to the bilge body. Inasmuch as, the middle of a bilge shell has a greater diameter than the ends of said shell, the corrugations of the blank are deeper or wider, or both dee er and wider, at the middle than at the ends of the corrugations so as to produce a greater surface area at the middle than at the ends and permit the body when formed to have the desired diameter at different parts. The corrugations are preferably formed in the sheet before it is rolled into cylindrical form, and they may be formed by rollers having intermeshing ribs, or they may be stamped or otherwise formed in the blank. The length of the corrugations may be varied as desired so as to extend to the edges of the blank, or to any point removed from said edges, with the opposite terminals of said corrugations merg- 1ng into the unbroken lateral margins of the blank. The middle longitudinal portion of the corrugated blank may be of the same thickness or transverse area as that of the sides or lateralmargins of the blank, or of a different thickness, so as to enable the middle portion of theshell or body when formed to be of the same thickness as the ends of After the corrugations have been formed, the corrugations are rolled or ressed out, making a shell of the character indicatedby 4.- in. Fig. 5. The corrugated blank may be first bent into cylindrical form and the corrugations then pressed out, but I prefer to the shell, or of a difl'erent'thicl essu roll the blank into cylindrical form and press out the corrugations simultaneously for the reason that in pressing out the corrugations theblank naturally assumes the form of a cylindrical shape or body with its greatest'diamete-r at the middle ofthe body. The

ends of the blank may then be riveted, or

In making the body of a barrel it is, of

course, necessary to have the corrugations increase in depth from their opposite ends toward the central portion of sald corrugations, but when the invention is used to make other objects, such as the breast of a milk can, the opposite ends of which are of different diameters, when the breast is formed, the corrugations increase gradually in depth from one end of the corrugation, theopposite end of the corrugation beingof a depth suflicient to make the desired diameter for the opposite end of the breast'and body of the can.

In referring herein to the corrugations as extendin transversely of the blank when flat, it Wlll be understood that in such cases a single blank is used to form thebilge body of a barrel, and does not apply where several sheets are joined together to form the body of a barrel, but in such cases the greatest length of the sheets would be in the direction of the length of the barrel instead of in the direction of its circumference. In all cases the corrugations egtend in the same direction as the axial line of the body to be formed.

Having thus described I claimv as new and desire to. secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The method of shaping bilge bodies consisting in forming the opposite faces of an approximately flat blank ,Mlth a series of c'orru ations diminishing depth from the mid le toward the opposite terminals of said corrugations, ing into the unbroken lateral margins of t e blank, then .pressing out the corru ations and bending the blank into cylindrica form.

'2. The method of shaping bilge bodies, consisting informing the opposite faces 'of an approximately flat blank with. a series my invention, what said terminals mer ;-.i

of corrugations diminishing in depth'from the niid le' toward the opposite terminals of said corrugations, then pressin put the corrugations and bending the blan into cylindrical form. 5

,3. The method of shaping bilge bodies, consisting informing the opposite faces of an approximately of corru ations diminishing in depth i -om the mid 1e toward the opposite tenni'iiirl of said corrugations, then pressing out the corrugations, bending the blank into cylindrical form, and fastening the endsof the blank together.

4. The method of shaping bilge bodies consisting in forming the opposite faces of an approximately fiat blank with a series of corrugations diminishing in depth from the midd'letoward the opposite terminal-bf,

said corrugations, then simultaneouslybending the blank into cylindrical form, and pressing out the corrugations.

5. The method of shaping bilge bodies, consisting in forming an approximately flat blank with its middle lon itudina-l portion of a difierent thickness l flat blank with a series 1 rom that of the lateral margins of the blank, and providing the opposite faces of said blank with a series of corrugations decreasing in v depth from the middle toward the opposite terminals of said corrugations, thenbending the blank into cylindrical form, pressing out the corrugations, and fastening the ends of the blank togethen 6. The method of shaping metal bodies,

consisting in forming the opposite faces of an approximately flat blank with a series of corrugations increasing in depth from one end of said corrugations, then pressing out the corru ations, bending the blank into cy-; lindrical cm, and fastening the ends of the blank together.

In testimony whereof'I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. v

i ROBERT W. HARDIE.

Witnesses: 1

ELIZABETH G. ENGLISH,

W. W. Hour. 

